


Barricade Boy

by failingandhiding



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-29
Updated: 2013-01-29
Packaged: 2017-11-27 10:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/661144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/failingandhiding/pseuds/failingandhiding
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cosette meets Éponine at the barricade without knowing she's a girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Barricade Boy

Cosette blundered down the streets of Paris in a daze, her letter clutched in her iron like grasp, her eyes wide yet unseeing.  
That little blonde boy who handed her the letter had not told her where the barricade would be, but she followed her head and her heart, briskly walking in a way that was almost a run. Her love was there, in dire need of help. She would not be much in a fight, but she knew she would not dare be attacked.  
So deep in thought as she was, Cosette failed to notice the boy in front of her, and collided with his back, sending him sprawling forward and herself reeling back, her brain catching up with her body at the collision, and her gaze locking on the boy dressed in tattered clothing as he spun around to face her, slight relief in his face that she was no threat.  
“Excuse me, Mademoiselle,” His voice was gruff, but light, and his tone friendly, calming her racing heart. “I did not see you.”  
Cosette was frozen. This man in front of her, he seemed so familiar, but she couldn’t place him. He wasn’t much taller than her, and wore sandy trousers that were much too big on him, a shirt and a long jacket. Curiously, there was also a shawl wrapped around his neck. A cap sat atop his head, but some long strands of dark brown hair had fallen from it in their fall. His face was quite feminine.  
She shook her head and snapped out of her daze, a blush creeping up her neck. “No, it was my fault, I’m sorry.” She was still staring him up and down, and he seemed a little thrown, but smirked down at her, showing off a not so perfect, but adorable smile. Cosette couldn’t help but return the gesture when she finally met his eyes again.  
Those eyes, Cosette found herself caught in those next. He had beautiful eyes, the kind that truly drew you in and kept you there. They were like melted dark chocolate, warm and comfortable. Cosette never wanted to look away.  
But, they had forgotten, there was a revolution going on around them, and the sudden sound of cannons going off startled them from their thoughts. The boy’s eyes widened and his lips parted for a second as he looked back to Cosette. “I must go,” he said, but his eyes were sorry, so big and sad that Cosette couldn’t bear to see them.  
She nodded, and with one last glance, he was gone.  
She had never learned his name. This dawned on her mere seconds later, and she berated herself, only to remember her purpose for being in the streets. Marius.  
What was she doing? This boy, the one she did not even know the name of, had captivated her on first sight, sent her into a kind of haze that she couldn’t explain, her mind was blurred and yet so much clearer. What was this feeling? It was different from what she felt with Marius. Not much different, but different all the same.  
She cursed herself for not getting his name. Only moments apart and she yearned to meet him again already. She swallowed her inner turmoil and darted away into the night in search of the barricade, where she was sure to find Marius, and if she was lucky, would meet the mystery man again.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
The barricade was quite when Cosette reached it. There were no gunshots ringing or cannons blaring, only the quite snores or humming of the men who still lived and the groans of the injured met her ears. She winced at these, and prayed they were not in too much pain.  
After speaking with the man on watch briefly, she was allowed behind the huge pile of broken wood. Her quick, sapphire blue eyes scanned the group for Marius, and also a little for the stranger she had just met.  
She didn’t really want to let herself outright think it, but in the back of her mind, she really wanted to see the man safe and sleeping soundly somewhere in the barracks. Or even not there at all, just not in the small room to the right, or three or four bodies lay, with blood spoiling their shirts, their eyes still open.  
“Cosette!” she turned at the call of her name, only to be engulfed in a tight hug, almost cutting off her airways. “Cosette, what are you doing here?” Marius, that was his voice. She smiled.  
“I wanted to see you.” She said, but her voice wasn’t strong. Instantly, she felt as if it was a mistake, and she didn’t quite know why. Maybe it was because she seemed to have lost the letter from him. Maybe it was during ‘the collision’, as she was now calling it. She hoped against hope it was not.  
But Marius was so delighted to see her, she brushed this away, ignoring that little feeling in her stomach that told her to stop him in his rants of love and adoration, to do something, anything to make him understand that, for some reason, she wasn’t alright with this. She mentally tried to figure it out while he spoke.  
It could be a silly little crush. She had witnessed these before, always that infatuation that lasted little over a week before beginning to fade. That’s what this was. A crush on the cute, scruffy little barricade boy. Nothing more.  
With this in mind, and a happy thought in her head, she dove into her conversation with Marius, smiling politely as he spoke of his love. He didn’t really talk of much else, and now that she had the niggling feeling that told her otherwise, she spoke these words back.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
That evening, when she was settled in one of the rooms left open to the revolutionists, she lay on her side, curled up a little. She was alone, having a room to herself as she was female while the others were not. And little insecurities were breaking through her mind’s barricade, in which she kept her ‘feeling’ behind.  
“Oh, Cosette,” she spoke to herself. “What is happening to you?” a long sigh filled the room. “You feel this way for Marius one night and the next for another…”  
She wasn’t sure what was happening, having had little experience with being in love before. All she knew was that when she was around the stranger, she felt warm and safe and wanted that again. But with Marius, she… felt that too, but not as warm. She groaned into her pillow in anguish. “What am I to do?”  
A sudden creak startled her from her thoughts, and she pulled the blankets further up her body. Cosette had forgotten to bring any nightclothes, and was therefore only in her underclothes, and felt immodest in front of others.  
A shadow entered the room slowly, obviously unaccustomed to the light like the blonde was. It stumbled and cursed. Cosette widened her eyes at the sound. It couldn’t be him?  
“Hello?” she said softly, making the shadow jump. “Monsieur?”  
The figure seemed to freeze, and unfreeze again very quickly. “Yes.” Cosette couldn’t breathe. “I wanted to see you again.”  
Cosette stared up at him, and saw his eyes focus on her, a sweet smile forming again. She blushed. She would not lie. “I have wanted to see you again too.” She whispered, almost inaudible, but the boy heard it, and sat down at the end of the bed, as to not invade her space. She was grateful.  
They sat in silence, yet it was comfortable. Cosette watched him as he played with his hands, and smiled at him. “I have a love,” she said, her voice slightly upset, and he picked up on it, turning to face her.  
“I know.” Outside, the wind howled, and crashed, a storm brewing, “But I wanted to see you again.”  
Cosette drew in a slow breath as the first strike of lightning lit the room for a second, letting both occupants see each other plainly. He was beautiful. But all she could see, were his lips.  
How she wanted to kiss him, just once to see if it was the same as she felt with Marius. Just one tiny press of his lips on hers and then it would be over, that would be it. So she lowered the blanket from her shoulders slightly, to gauge his reaction. His eyes did not leave her own, yet he seemed to lean in closer to her.  
But Cosette was not in the mood for patience, she needed to feel his lips on hers, so with little to no warning, she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him closer, all thought of shyness gone out to the storm. His lips were soft and a little chapped, she didn’t want to pull away ever, even when she needed to breath.  
But she did pull away, took in a few deep breaths and looked deep into his eyes. They were more than warm now, they were burning, something inside they screamed for her to go on, and she gave in, re-joining their lips, in what quickly developed into frenzy. Cosette was hungry for more than a simple brushing of lips now that she had finally kissed the man she had barely met.  
They kissed with a fervour that she couldn’t fathom; Cosette had never felt like this, so desperate and so wanting. She wanted him closer. And then he was, his hands on her hips and her own on his chest.  
He seemed so wrapped up in her, that he failed to notice her hands wind up to his neck, playing with the wispy hairs on his nape with the tips of her fingers. Only when Cosette’s hand tipped his cap from his head did the boy seem to return the real world. And he did this with a gasp of horror and a jolt backwards. But he was kept in place by Cosette’s arms, locked tightly around ‘him’.  
Cosette leaned back to stare at her companion as strands of soft, wavy hair brushed her face for the first time. What she saw this time, held no hint of masculinity.  
In front of her, sitting with panicked, scared eyes and a frozen body, was a girl. Well, the face of a girl, dressed in men’s clothing. How hadn’t she seen it before?  
Thrown, Cosette didn’t move, just stared, as the stranger did with her. She looked so nervous, Cosette’s heart melted, and she smiled. “I believe we’ve yet to be introduced,” she said, “I’m Cosette.”  
“Eponine,” the brunette in boy clothes whispered, her eyes searching Cosette’s own for information. The blonde smiled and relaxed. The newly dubbed Eponine’s hands still rested on her waist. She found she quite liked the feeling.  
The silence was back, as they took each other in. Eponine still seemed to be reeling in terror should Cosette be angry at her, but the blonde had different things on her mind.  
This left Cosette right back at the starting point. Closing her eyes and breathing deeply, pausing when she got a hint of Eponine’s individual scent. Was she still in the same predicament now that she knew her ‘crush’ was on a female?  
In a way, yes. Eponine still drew her in in a way that she didn’t quite understand, but on the other hand, she was a girl, there was no chance of marriage or children with a woman. Cosette was confused, and a little worried, but she knew what she wanted. She was young, and she was free to choose, and she wanted Eponine.  
The brunette blushed. “I’ll go if you wish.”  
Cosette shook her head and made her decision. “No… I want to…” Eponine’s brow creased in wonder when the blonde’s lips met her own again, slowly this time, demure and slow. Her breath caught in her throat and she relaxed, her lips moving to follow Cosette’s in the way they had before, already beginning to return to the fierceness of before.  
Confidence restored, Eponine smiled against Cosette’s lips, pulling the small blonde closer to her so she could deepen their kiss. Cosette gasped when the street girl’s tongue brushed her lips, but instinctively opened to allow her access, whining at the new sensation. Why hadn’t she tried this before?  
Eponine, while being far more skilled in activities such as this, had absolutely no idea what she was doing. No idea at all. She didn’t know why she was in Cosette’s room, or why she had kissed her, or why she was still kissing her… she had heard Marius’ words of love for this girl, but yet here she was, her body now leaning over Cosette’s almost entirely, her hands roaming her sides.  
Eponine listened to the other girl’s rushed breathing, it was hypnotising to her, so quick and needy, it made her heart race and a warmth flood her stomach. They broke their kiss when air was needed, but Eponine’s lips trailed down her soon to be lover’s neck instead, making Cosette moan in a way she had never dreamed she could.  
Cosette pulled the brunette closer to her, on top of her now, and reclaimed her lips, her hands discovering more smooth skin under baggy clothes.  
And so began their dalliance, their secret meetings and quite escapes from real life. But Cosette stayed with Marius, and Eponine remained by Montparnasse’s unfaithful side, and so it must be.


End file.
